I was off of work yesterday because I work both days this weekend. We are still hoping to to have some evening Long Island fun though. Highlights from this past week…
I took myself on a fantastic car picnic in Huntington for my day off! Vanilla bean iced latte from Southdown Coffee and the best cinnamon roll of my life from Duck Island Bread Company.
Sparkling watermelon waters. The watermelon flavored Liquid Death is a 10/10. We also really like this passionfruit watermelon Mela; typically we don’t buy sugar-sweetened drinks for home but this stuff is delicious (especially with tequilla!).
Crunchy things – honey roasted chickpeas and crunchy lentils.
These Blue Pearl blueberries are great; so big and sweet.
Big fan of these brown sugar boba popsicles. I have no idea how they get the frozen tapioca to stay so soft/chewy.
Leftover sheet-pan hash. We were getting sick of it at this point so I topped mine with a Sriracha honey mustard sauce.
Delicious Mediterranean-ish bowls. Farro mixed with pesto / canned artichoke hearts sauteed in evoo and then cooked with a mix of tomato sauce and harissa / roasted zucchini / canned tuna / chopped olives.
Passionfruit Coffee. This was a quad skim iced latte with caramelized milk chocolate sauce.
We are head over heels for these Nightingale ice cream sandwiches. Adam is a traditionalist but this cinnamon roll variety is my favorite.
We went to Food Bazaar recently (home of Rokstar Chicken) and brought home some great snacks. This weekend I enjoyed key lime grapefruit Polar seltzer,
honey butter chips,
Jom gummy candy,
and spicy beef ramen.
We waited in line two and a half hours for Cuts and Slices pizza — worth it! We got chopped cheese, chicken and wafles, jerk chicken, and stewed oxtail.
Leftovers from a wonderful lunch at Mao Mao (I didn’t have my camera). Fried fish cakes with sweet chili sauce / steamed dumplings with chicken, shrimp, and mushroom / vegetarian rice rolls. We also had great poached chicken with chicken fat rice.
Roasted sheetpan hash. Fennel, bok choy, purple sweet potato, chicken pesto sausage, soy puffs, mint, and pesto.
Adam is busy tonight so we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day a day early with ridiculous/amazing corned beef reuben grilled cheeses from Roast. Plus short rib shepherd’s pie and (homemade) roasted green beans.
I also made us green iced lattes!
See also – this week’s coffee combo was a winner.
Still really enjoying these guava crisps.
Pineberries! We liked them more than the Oshinko berries but less than regular strawberries.
This bin of strawberry popping bobas felt like it had endless potential.
I made great iced matchas with lemon seltzer and boba. Also – amaretto and diet coke with popping boba; 9.5/10
We weren’t that impressed with these fancy truffles.
But were shocked by how much we liked these limited-release cookie dough candies.
Best meal of the week – chicken kale pesto sausage on a pretzel bun with honey mustard / roasted yellow and purple cauliflower / Japanese sweet potato salad that is one of the best things I’ve ever made; roasted Japanese sweet potato with mayo, Kewpie, Sriracha, rice vinegar, paprika, white pepper, gochugaru, green onion, and pickled radish.
Leftover veggies and potato salad plus salmon salad – canned sockeye, smoked sockeye salmon candy, mayo, Sriracha, rice vinegar, and green onion.
Giant, smokey, protein-packed salads. Romaine and carrot greens with black garlic balsamic vinaigrette / roasted brussel sprouts with evoo and urfa pepper / roasted carrots with maple, evoo, butter, paprika, and gochugaru / smoked turkey breast / bacon-flavored crunchy mung beans / fried egg.
Boba Guys‘ dirty banana milk – Korean banana milk with espressso and boba.
Some treats from Frenchette. A buckwheat chocolate chip cookie plus their pastry stuffed with blood orange curd.
10/10 good vegan gummy candies.
Beef rice roll from Joe’s. <– this was our favorite thing this weekend
We got great take-out from Rokstar Chicken. Their new honey butter boneless chicken plus truffle fries plus roasted green beans from home. Also – for dessert we got their cream cheese bites and they were chewy and wonderful!
Omakase at Genki. We did the 17 piece seating and it was fantastic. Adam’s favorite was the sea bream and mine was the Toro.
Things from this week… My dinners were all topnotch.
Reminder for myself – I did not care for the churro version of these vegan crisps at all.
I did quite enjoy this Mango Chili Truly; it was a bit salty in a very satisfying way.
Fully paired these two IPAs because they both had laser in their name. We preferred the Goose Island.
Insane loaded veggie nachos. Homemade baked toritlla chips with lime and togarashi / nacho cheese sauce / Trader Joe’s vegan soy chorizo / roasted sweet onion, bell pepper, and poblano pepper / roasted zucchini / fresh tomato and tomatillo.
Take-out birria quesadilla with leftover veggies plus green beans.
Broccoli and cheese potatoes. Baked potatoes with soyrizo, cheese sauce, turkey bacon, and roasted broccoli.
Burritos! I stuffed mine with double roasted tomato salsa (two thumbs up!), pickled jalopenos, cheddar, soyrizo, sweet potato tots, and scrambled eggs and topped it with crispy extra-sharp cheddar cheese. Pro tip – I actually used the cheese blanket to seal my wrapped edge and it worked great. Plus roasted cauliflower with taco seasoning.
Adam and I had a really lovely weekend. There were storms Friday night into Saturday morning but afterwards the weather cleared up nicely so we could enjoy some walking dates. We covered a lot of ground, including walks across the Williamsburg Bridge and Queensboro Bridge. Also a trip to the Guggenheim for the Nick Cave exhibit.
Doughnut Project‘s maple cruller is our favorite doughnut in the city.
Lucky Kings Bakery‘s fried mochi stuffed with red bean paste and rolled in sesame seeds. This was amazing.
Banana pudding at Baonanas. Cookies and cream and ube.
Drinks at Dante. Our favorite was this Amalfi Limonata – malfy lemon gin. limoncello, lemon curd, lemon juice, and limonata soda.
I 100% planned last week’s meals so we would have leftover ingredients for homemade painkillers. Pineapple juice, fresh orange juice, and light coconut milk with sweetened condensed milk with dark rum.
Brunch at Loulou. I had a Remy – tequilla, Lillet Rose, and homemade grenadine with lime and sparkling grapefruit.
Also a gruyere omelette.
Lunch at Tacombi. Horchata / hibiscus agua fresca with mezcal and chile.
Corn esquites.
Breakfast taco with eggs, pico, and Oaxaca cheese. <– best dish of the meal
Birria tacos.
Dinner at Super Burrito. We ordered all of this week’s specials with ground beef – burrito, crunchwrap, and nachos. We loved it here!
Epic homemade burrito bowls. Roasted cauliflower rice with roasted onion/bell peppers/poblano pepper, sharp cheddar, double roasted salsa, chicken and chile verde sausage, crispy tortilla strips, and pickled jalopenos.
Key lime skyr with passionfruit, banana, and chia seeds; plus granola halfway through.
These guava crackers were weird in a wonderful way; super thin and crispy and a bit sweet.
Fun drinks – tasty spiced hibiscus bissap tea and soursop nectar.
I enjoyed my soursop in a margarita!
See also – rum and coke slushies. Frozen coke ice cubes blended with Cruzan rum and fresh lime.
We made some really great dinners, all of which received a healthy dousing of hot sauces. I stuck with these three for a Caribbean theme.
Coconut rice and beans – brown rice cooked with coconut milk, dark kidney beans, onion, ginger, habanero, and spices / curried fish cakes – canned tuna and salmon with egg, panko, mayo, and Jamaican curry powder / rainbow chard and celery sauteed with some fish sauce and rice vinegar.
Sauteed zoodles with pineapple pulled chicken (a loose take on this recipe).
Roasted kabucha squash with a very loose take on callaloo – frozen kale with coconut milk, onion, garlic, ginger, habanero, turkey, bacon, fresh crab, and spices.
It was a short workweek because I spent Monday-Wednesday in Ohio. My grandma is moving and I went help pack up/visit with her and my mom! Here were some random things I’ve enjoyed since I got back home…
Pocket latte – coffee chocolate bar with caffeine.
This real latte was better. New York Beanery‘s monthly special is a mint mocha. We also had a pretty amazing creme brulee latte.
Fruity, extra-creamy yogurts. The fig was too lemon-y for my tastes but the marionberry was perfect.
Buttered popcorn with togarashi, furikake, and brown sugar.
Yogurt soju 9/10 and yuzu jelly sake 20/10.
We tried and loved a new-to-us Vietnamese spot in Long Island – Sup. Bang bang chicken salad.
Vietnamese iced coffee (with also had a great strawberry tea) and green papaya salad.
Turkey chili with white beans, bell peppers, and poblano peppers. I cooked the ground turkey with toasted rice powder and fish sauce and this came out great. I topped my bowl with plain Greek yogurt, pickled jalopenos, and tons of hot sauce and sharp cheddar.
Eating Chalk 